Clay Shirky on the Death of Newspapers

For anyone who cares about the implosion of the journalism business and how it might evolve to save itself, the writings of New York University professor Clay Shirky are a must-read. His recent blog post “Newspapers and Thinking the Unthinkable” has been widely linked to, and if you missed it, here’s a taste:

“When someone demands to know how we are going to replace newspapers, they are really demanding to be told that we are not living through a revolution. They are demanding to be told that old systems won’t break before new systems are in place. They are demanding to be told that ancient social bargains aren’t in peril, that core institutions will be spared, that new methods of spreading information will improve previous practice rather than upending it. They are demanding to be lied to.

There are fewer and fewer people who can convincingly tell such a lie.”